Rewind the clock to June when one of the hottest topics at lakefronts, campsites and lawn chairs all over the province was where, exactly, would one of the NCAA’s top players sign.

It could have been dubbed ‘The Summer of Spencer Foo’ as the Edmonton product and Hobey Baker Award finalist dominated conversation and had many National Hockey League teams trying to convince the right winger that Edmonton or Las Vegas or Philadelphia or Detroit or Calgary, among others, was the place to be.

And for good reason, too.

Foo scored 26 goals and 36 assists in 38 games as a junior for the Union College Dutchmen.

In the end, he decided to sign with the Calgary Flames, the club that took a chance on him last summer and invited him to their development camp in 2016.

But after all of the hype and intrigue surrounding Foo died down and the puck dropped on the NHL season, things have been quiet.

Very quiet.

One goal in 19 games and a 14-game scoring drought overall? The 23-year-old former star of the AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs forward called it, officially, the longest slump of his entire life.

“Normally, they can last for two or three games to six or seven,” Foo was saying the other day from Stockton, Calif., the site of the Flames’ American Hockey League affiliate. “It’s definitely tougher in those times. You just try and battle through it. That’s kind of the game of hockey, I feel like. Honestly, sometimes you’re doing the right things and it’s just not working out. You run into hot goalies and whatnot.

“But we have a lot of older guys on this team who have been awesome at giving the younger guys advice as well as the coaching staff. I’m just working on things every day and getting tips from the older guys — that definitely helps.”

While one would hardly write off Foo based on his early season production in his first year of pro, there are signs that things could be turning around.

On Dec. 6 at San Jose, he finally tickled twine and notched his first pro hat-trick: three goals that allowed him to shake a giant-sized gorilla off his back. Prior to that, his last tally was on Oct. 20 in the Heat’s fifth game of the 2017-18 season.

“I’m hoping the flood gates open up and pucks start going in for me,” Foo said. “It was obviously tough when the puck wasn’t going in. You kind of go through slumps all through your career. It just seemed like one of those times when I was getting chances and making plays, but at the end of the day, the puck wasn’t going in the net.

“Once you bury a couple, it makes it a little bit easier.”

While Foo doesn’t qualify as a greybeard yet, he’s definitely not a fresh-faced 18-year-old. But the fact that he’s 20-something and used to living on his own and playing hockey like it’s his job, doesn’t mean that Foo isn’t immune to the adjustment period that goes along with going from NCAA to the AHL.

The transition isn’t easy as it looks.

But, then again, battling adversity this early into his pro career may be a good thing.

“I knew coming in it was going to be a pretty big jump,” said Foo, who, heading into Saturday’s home game against the Tucson Roadrunners, has four goals and six assists in 20 games. “I knew it was going to be a lot different from hockey last year. Obviously you want to make an impact right away. But coming in and having a bit of a slump … I think that’s almost better because you learn the whole 200-foot game. Just getting here right away, you might miss some of the details. Obviously, it wasn’t the start I wanted to have. At the end of the day, it’s important to learn other aspects of the game. Some of the fans might not see that, but I try to just worry about myself.”

And in order for those fans to watch Foo on a regular basis at the National Hockey League level, he understands that consistency matters.

“The older guys preach doing the little things right — that’s so important for a guy who is trying to make the jump from the AHL to the NHL,” Foo said. “Once you get up there, you’re kind of under a microscope. If you’re making mistakes, it’s amplified. I think the biggest thing is to not worry about scoring but worry about being responsible all over the ice.”

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